jpcjguy
Hi everyone,
I am new here - have a 79 CJ7 with 360. This is the first engine that I built myself - nothing but a book!! I built it back in 1999 and since then the engine has maybe 3-4K miles on it - if that. I used my original timing cover because I did not know to look here or from what I learned from various shops in the Washington DC area(where I was living at the time) Crown was not tooling them yet. Anyway, my pressure was at around 11-12 at idle and 38-40 - this is on a new engine. So I finally bit the bullet and ordered a timing cover kit from bulltear. I had them assemble it so that I did not have to worry about those tiny clearances!!
So, I spent the last 2 days working on it and now have it to the point where I need to just install the distributor. I did the rear main seal at the same time as that was leaking a little. Of course the crank moved and such so all markings are useless. I know how the distributor housing should sit in relation to the cover, but I CANNOT for the life of me get the stupid shaft to engage with the oil pump shaft. I have seriously spent almost 3 hours on this. I used a drill to prime the pump - never done that before - kinda cool!! I assume that it is primed as it used to spin freely and now there is resistance which I am assuming is oil and I hear what faintly sounds like a gurgling noise when turning it with a screwdriver now...
Of course, I did not test fit my distributor in the new cover to make sure it would engage, but I never thought that would even be an issue!!!! I am taking into account the rotation of the engagement of the distributor gear and the camshaft gear.
Anyone have any ideas?!??!? I am at my wits end here.
:(:
Thanks!
Joe
Richmond, VA
jeepsr4ever
Joe you did install the alignment pins correct?
jpcjguy
Do you mean the 2 in the block? I would assume so - if not, wouldn't everything else not be aligned properly?
jpcjguy
Here is a link to a directory of photos that I took during the process: http://www.joewatson.net/jeep/
If anyone is interested or if someone can point out something obviously wrong that I did...:roll: thanks!
jeepsr4ever
So no matter where you have it the dizzy housing wont sit down all the way? Try taking the distributor gear off and see if that helps. It could be a alignment issue! Some lbocks are known to be on the edge of their tolerance for clocking of the timing cover.
jpcjguy
Nope, tried almost every position. Let's say three hours of trying - unless I am the unluckiest person alive and have not hit the "postion". I will try taking the distributor gear off. What is the best way to do that? Never done it.....
hotratz
Just a simple matter of driving the pin out that holds the gear on the shaft. Support the opposite side of the gear hub that your driving from on something that allows the pin to pass through when you drive it out. A slightly opened vice works. Keep the gear teeth away from the vice. ¬†_Φ_
1980_Cj7
Did you reach down in with a screwdriver and turn the oil pump shaft a little so you can line up both the gear teeth and the slot?
jpcjguy
Yup, tried practically every degree/angle.
fifesjeep
1980_Cj7 wroteDid you reach down in with a screwdriver and turn the oil pump shaft a little so you can line up both the gear teeth and the slot?
I'm with you on that one.... keep rotating the pump and trying to get the distributor to drop in... And do a quick measurement or compare the lengths etc to another distributor... But definitely try moving the oil pump and turn the rotor a little at a time... :idea:
jeepsr4ever
We have talked on the phone and I heard the problem in detail. I feel that it could be the cover on the edge of the tolerance and the block on the edge of the tolerance. At any rate we will warrantee any part so if it is well take it back and give you a replacement in the middle of the tolerance.
fifesjeep
I'm lost... Even if all the tolerances were at their maximum and the distributor was at the minimum you should still get tooth mesh/(Gear contact).... Can somebody clarify this one in a little more depth? #-o
Clocking??? How far off could the hole be off before they won't line up?... They're manufactured/machined in mass jigs/molds/machines etc. right? Could it be just a faulty cam gear etc?... Too wide on the tab or the inside diameter on the distributor gear is too tight for the oil drive shaft and along with clocking tolerances at the max will cause these to not align???
Wow, I feel as if I'm looking at a wall scratching my head trying to figure-out what it is that I'm looking at. :lo1l:
jeepsr4ever
Without having the cover here it is hard to diagnose..however the final product is machined and they seem to have either worn out equipment or poor setup. It doesnt take much at all to push the gears to close to each other.
donwag
Here are a couple of ideas.
Buy one of Bulltears priming tools. Compare the priming tool shaft and collar to your distributor shaft and collar. If the priming tool works, the dizzy should work. Do put a mechanical guage on the oil pressure fitting while priming. You cannot tell by the sound.
If the priming tool will not work, take of the timing cover. You may have mis-aligned it, or your cam gear is not properly installed and is not engaging the dizzy gear properly.
At any rate, with the cover off you can examine all the parts and check the engagement. You can also make sure the cam gear is properly installed.
I have discovered that different dizzy's have different placement of the dizzy gear. Are you using a matched set of cam and dizzy gears?
This has to be something simple. There is just no reason for the dizzy to not drop in if you have the correct parts installed properly.
Grey Ghost
I ran into this same problem last winter when reassembling my 390 after priming the engine with a drill I could not get my MSD dist. back in. Never had the problem before. I pulled the oil pump drive gear out and found small burrs on the inside slot.Without the pump gear in the distributor dropped right in. Tried to install gear into bottom of the distributor but it would not go. Cleaning the top of the oil pump drive with emory cloth did not help. I had grind a small {V} into the top of the drive were it splines into the bottom of the dist. I installed the gear back in the pump with dist. bolted in to make sure it seated. Have had no problems all last summer, 35 -40psi hot after a few passes domn the drag strip on a 90 deg. day .Hope this helps Good Luck.
jpcjguy
Ok,
So I pulled it all apart and did not use the aligning pins, just the 2 top bolts on either side of the cover finger tight. The distributor now meshings in. I talked with Matt at Bulltear at length on the phone and figured that maybe my pins are out of whack and I should not use them. He was a great help and offered to send me another cover if that was the case! Thanks!
Now that the test fitting worked, I just need to get another gasket and button it all up again. Making sure that the distributor fits before adding everything else back on!! :roll:
Matt,
Let I have posted the new pics at the link above - they are numbers 54-58 - let me know what you think I should do in regards to the cork from the pan gasket.
Thanks!
Joe
jeepsr4ever
Yep Joe looks like some RTV will work fine in the corners.
